Bath Association Seeks to Lower the Age Limit for Children

If the Korea Public Bath Industry Association gets its way, public bath houses for the opposite sex could be out of bounds for these children once they are five.

European Pressphoto Agency

How old is too old for a boy to enter public female bath houses?

In Korea, age five is too much, according to the Korea Public Bath Industry Association, which wants the government to lower the age limit to four because of complaints from female users.

Under the Public Health Control Act, boys and girls aged five or more are banned from entering the opposite sex’s section in public bath houses. Owners of bath houses, which remain widespread in some rural areas, face fines of 3 million won ($2,886) if the law is violated.

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“We have conveyed our request to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and are waiting for a decision,” said an official at the association. Ministry officials in charge of the matter weren’t available for comment.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when public bath houses were popular throughout the country, it wasn’t uncommon for mothers to bring their nine-year-old sons to public baths. In recent decades, rising affluence has speeded up children’s physical development, sometimes creating embarrassing moments at female baths, the association official said.

The age limit for children entering a public bath house for the opposite sex was last lowered in 2003, when the government revised the ceiling to five from seven after similar complaints from the association and some public bath users.

In 2009, the association petitioned the ministry to lower the age limit for children of the opposite sex to four, but its request was rejected amid protests from single-parent families and other groups.

While South Koreans often add a year to one’s age, the law is based on a child’s legal age rather than his or her “Korean age,” where babies are deemed to be one year old at birth.